Pretty Purple Flowers

Stampin' Up! rewards demonstrators each year for sales, recruiting and leadership with free stamps and a pin.  This year I got stamps for all three of those categories and one of the stamps I got was the Sweet Floral background stamp.  I will admit, I wasn't thrilled with this particular stamp, but I figured it should see some ink since it was a  reward for hard work!  I set out for some inspiration on Stampin' Connection (like Facebook for demonstrators...full of so many ideas and chatting, and another great reason why you should become a demonstrator!) and wouldn't you know it, I found lots (and LOTS!) of inspiration.  Here's what I came up with.

I stamped my image with Basic Gray ink on some First Edition DSP (note...this one is considered Speciality DSP so it's not included in the sale this month...found that out the hard way...lets just say it pays to READ the Idea Book & Catalogue!!!).

After stamping the image I used Sponge Daubers to color it.  I gently swirled the colored ink onto the stamped image (I used Wisteria Wonder and Old Olive ink).  Then I sponged around the edge with Basic Gray and added some splatter (which you can't really see in the picture...sorry!) with my Basic Gray Stampin' Write and the Color Spritzer Tool.  I then layered it on a piece of Elegant Eggplant cardstock, added a ribbon and tag and then put it on a Basic Gray base with some Stampin' Dimensionals.

To make the tag I used the "just for you" from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set.  I just colored the "for you" part with a Basic Gray Stampin' Write.  It was stamped on Naturals Ivory cardstock, punched out with the Small Oval punch and sponged around the edges with Basic Gray ink.  I embellished it with an Elegant Eggplant flower (Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack) and a sweet, teeny, tiny pearl.  It's attached to the Wisteria Wonder ribbon (sooooo pretty!) with one of the fabulous little safety pins found in the Vintage Trinkets (loooove those!).

All in all, I'm pretty happy with how this card turned out.  Now I feel the need to think of other ways to use this background stamp!!!

Have an inspired day!